It's a Wonderful Death - Sarah J. Schmitt Page 0,50

to this. “I think I’m going to be sick,” I say and close my eyes. It doesn’t help.

“You can’t be sick here,” Madeline assures me. “It just feels like it.”

“It’s too much, too fast,” I choke. My head begins pounding as my old and new pasts fight for their place in my mind. I feel like my gray matter is going to squeeze out of my nose any second now. And then, as quickly as it came on, the pain stops.

I can hear Madeline talking to me. “RJ, are you okay?”

Everyone in the coffeehouse is watching me but no one offers to help. They seem as dumbfound as I feel. “Yeah,” I say, sitting up. “It was just … wow … that sucked.”

She picks up my cup. “Drink this. Maybe it will help.”

I lift it to my lips and take a tentative sip. To my surprise and delight, the sweet and bitter taste chases away the last few spots of pain. I gulp down a few more sips before looking at her. “I thought people couldn’t lie here.”

She looks at me in confusion. “I didn’t lie.”

“You said I didn’t steal the money for the fundraiser we threw to help your parents out. But I’m pretty sure I did. It may not have been my idea, but I didn’t stop it.” I groan when I remember the pending court date I have in December. “Too bad the whole you-can’t-lie-in-the-Afterlife isn’t admissible for my defense on Earth.”

Madeline looks like she wants to say something but instead sits back and takes a long taste of her drink. “Do you remember us being friends now?”

This makes me smile. “I do. It happened not long after I started hanging out with Trevor, I mean Daniel.” I sit up and grin at her. “Wait a minute. The two of you dated. You must be the girl Grams mentioned. The one Daniel’s heart belongs to,” I tease.

Love radiates from her entire being and the outpouring of energy makes my skin tingle from the intensity. “Sorry,” she says, looking at me shyly as she struggles to reign in her emotion. “I only do that when I think of him.”

Madeline reminds me of Sandy and I gently tap the ring. It’s the way they aren’t afraid to show how much they love. I search my brain for even a moment of that feeling but come up with nothing. I hate to admit it, but even with the possibility of getting to go back to my life, I’m jealous of two dead girls.

“Hey, Madeline,” Shayna calls. “It’s time. You guys better take off.”

“Thanks,” Madeline tells the barista before turning to me. “You ready to finish this?” I follow after her and plop my cup into the trash can. Madeline holds the door open and gestures for me to walk through. I glance at her to smile thanks and when I look up, I realize we’re walking into Felicity’s living room. This is the last place I want to be, especially with Madeline. This is where I gave her a reason to hate me forever.

My stomach lurches when I see myself. I look sad and pathetic and I know there are about a million places I would rather be than here.

“Hey, RJ,” Felicity says. “I need the debit card. There are a couple vendors who still need to be paid before we figure the final tally.”

“Which ones?” I ask, thumbing through a stack of receipts. “I thought I’d taken care of everything already.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Felicity cuts me off with a wave of her hand, like she’s swatting a gnat. “It’s not a big deal. I can take care of it this evening and get the card back to you in the morning.”

“Okay,” I say. I watch myself reach into my bag and fumble with my wallet. I fish out the card and start to hand it over.

That’s when I feel the familiar tug of the silver cord. This is gonna be bad. I just don’t know for whom.

Chapter 20

Instead of fighting the pull, I give over to it completely and this time touchdown really isn’t that bad. I see the debit card in my hand and I know what I have to do to.

“You know what?” I say, releasing my dormant queen bee just a little. “You’ve done so much with planning everything, why don’t you just text me the businesses and I’ll take care of it for you? That way you don’t have to go out again.” I